Story 22

"Story 22", Acrylic On Canvas, 91.5cm x 122cm, Year: 2010.

Many people do not know that I am good at catching grasshoppers.

Years ago in my primary school days, whilst I was waiting for school-bus to fetch me home after school, I spent a lot of time catching grasshoppers.

I can still remember the grasshopper's body colour is a pretty fresh light green, and length of the body is only 1cm long on average. However, there was once when I saw an approximately 13-cm long giant grasshopper (told by a school-cleaner who caught it later) appear at the entrance of the classroom, flying around and some parts of the body colour were brown! Of course I dared not catch it then – I was too afraid...

White Van

"Enjoy!"

River & Spring

"Enjoy!"

Rabbit Spaceship

Story 21

"Story 21", Acrylic On Canvas, 122cm x 91.5cm, Year: 2010.

"Freaking me out!"

Story 20

"Story 20", Acrylic On Canvas, 92cm x 92cm, Year: 2010.

During my high school days, I had always wondered why "short" and "young" juniors like me often lost a lot of chances, such as: whilst I was having American football game with my neighbourhood friends, I was always chosen to be a defender but in fact I was actually qualified to be a 'quarter-back'.  Yet the funny thing was that - for those taller seniors, they might think they were qualified to be a 'quarter back' but in fact they were not! They could not make quick decisions and their long-pass "sucks!"  Why did things always happen that way???

Story 19

"Story 19", Acrylic On Canvas, 92cm x 92cm, Year: 2010.

That was a time when I chose not to follow God's will and tried to fix life on my own. Deep down I believed that God was the only one who felt sad at that time... because He had greater blessings for me but I had no guts to receive them.

Story 18

"Story 18", Acrylic On Canvas, 102cm x 76cm, Year: 2010.

It is all about blankets this time.
A very weird idea was created by my eldest brother during our primary school days, who asked us to apply some oil on our stomachs, and then use the blanket to cover our whole bodies.  Not long after, we would fart (effect of applying oil on stomach), and then we would quickly purposely put our heads in and sniff it! Finally we all ended up laughing...! (shown at the bottom right side of artwork)

We were just trying to be funny...

Story 17

"Story 17", Oil On Canvas, 102cm x 76cm, Year: 2010.

Few weeks ago, I went to my old house at Toa Payoh, and to visit the old market behind too. I went up to the second floor and saw the same fish-shop which I had always visited when I was a kid. Nothing changes much - the owner is still the same owner, except the location is no longer at the corner. I tried talking to the owner, and I began to realise that he has been running this fish-shop since 1960s. Wow! I am surprised that running a fish-shop can also become one's "iron rice bowl", if one handles well...

Story 16

"Story 16", Oil On Canvas, 112cm x 76.5cm, Year: 2010.

That was the time when I had the chance to spend more time to get to know and speak to my brother...
That was also the first time when I learnt to use cellphone to communicate with others...

Story 15

"Story 15", Oil On Canvas, 112cm x 76.5cm, Year: 2010.

There was a lot of fear in my heart, beginning from 16 years old...
The fear of updated news from television and newspapers...
The fear that something might happen to my body, so most of the times I would rather not switch on the lamp when I was taking my showers, and would also refuse to look at the bathroom mirror...

Story 14

"Story 14", 143cm x 132cm, Acrylic On Canvas, Year: 2010.

I was taking care of my nephew and niece from years 1998 till 2001. It was in the past already but everytime when I think of those days, my tears will drop but my heart will be full of joy! It was the time when I decided to move out of my house and stopped communicating with my grandmother, some relatives and friends; and lived "like a porcupine"... My only joy was to take care of my nephew and niece, such as: waking them up in the early mornings, getting them ready to school, helping them clean up, making milk for them, bringing them to school, disciplining them... Ha!

Of course besides doing all these things, I had also done some paintings right outside their home conridor, and both of them enjoyed looking at my works... Sometimes they even mimicked my drawing and painting gestures! Ha! Ha! my paintings could cheer them up! Sometimes they would give me some comments - nephew always said something positive, such as "very nice" or "beautiful"; whilst my niece would say something negative, like "you paint not nice!"...  (maybe my niece didn't like me much that time, don't know why...??)

G. Girl

"G. Girl", Oil On Plywood, Year: 2000. ( Private Collection )

I had only spent lesser than one hour to complete this painting. Throughout the whole process, she kept moving and could not sit still, so in the end most parts painted were mainly based on my memories to capture them. By the way, this little girl has already grown up and almost same height as me now. Ha! Ha! Time flies really fast!

Love Story #1

"Love Story #1", Oil On Canvas, Year: 2003.

Personally, till now I still think that the main attraction of this painting is: the decision to paint that tiny couple - groom and bride on the left side of the table; meanwhile, I also regretted that I should have painted that rose in red color, instead of yellow...

Seaside

"Seaside", Ink & Wax Pencil On Paper, Year: 2005.( Private Collection )

Sometimes I think I can achieve better drawing results when I am in a "relaxed" state of mind, such as the above drawing.  I was doing it in a "carefree" manner few years ago at the Singapore East Coast beach.

What Do I Still Lack?

"What Do I Still Lack?" , Ink And Marker On Paper, Year: 1994. (Private Collection)

What do you lack??????

The Portrait Of Victoria

"The Portrait Of Victoria", Ink And Marker On Paper.

Years ago this little girl always came to my art class in a pair of pyjamas. She was pretty small size, so she look very adorable in the pyjamas.

Consequence

"Consequence", Ink On A4 Paper, Year: 1994.

Lady In Pink

"Lady In Pink", Oil On Canvas, Year: 2005.(Private Collection)

Story 00

"Story 00", Acrylic And Marker On Canvas, 76cm x 76cm, Year: 2010. (Private Collection)